“I had never thought that this selfless learning will lead me to win such honours at such a young age.” – Debanshu Chauhan
Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee conferred the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme (NSS) Award on an LPU Civil Engineering final year student, Debanshu Chauhan. The LPU NSS Volunteer was selected from more than 32 Lac NSS student volunteers of 298 Universities, 42 other School Councils and Vocational Institutions of the country. Debanshu has been successful in completing 240 hours service to the society under diverse projects within two years, passionately and devotedly. The award for the year 2013-14 was conferred on Debanshu at a function held at the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan New Delhi. This NSS volunteers’ category award carried a cash award of Rs 15,000, certificate and a silver medal for Debanshu.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is the nodal ministry for the awards, which are given every year to recognise outstanding work done by NSS volunteers. Prior to this award, Debanshu was also honoured in January 2014 as one of the best NSS volunteers to partake in the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath in New Delhi. So, from being on RajPath in an honourable position, LPU volunteer Debanshu found entry to Rashtrapati Bhavan to win two prestigious national honours within 10 months, this year 2014. Debanshu is selflessly a firm follower of NSS slogan “Not me, but you” and has been many a times blood donor, planter, voters’ awakener, active participant at many zonal, state and national level NSS events organized by the university and concerned Ministry.
Feeling proud on this rare honour, emotional Debanshu shared, “It really makes me proud to be a student of LPU which has transformed me into a socially conscious and passionate student. I have studied in an ordinary way…but I have learnt a lot in an extraordinary method at my university. I wanted to join NCC at university to be an army officer to serve the country. On being unable to join NCC, I opted the other way out to serve the society through NSS. I had never thought that this selfless learning will lead me to win such honours at such a young age.”
Congratulating the award winning student, LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal said, “Debanshu has done us proud. He has brought honor, not just to himself and this university but also to the state of Punjab. At LPU it is our endeavor that each students skills, in the classroom and beyond, be honed to the best possible. NSS works not just to help students give back to society but also provides them the opportunity to become good leaders. Debanshu has all the makings of an excellent leader, we wish him great success in life.”
National Service Scheme (NSS) is one of the flagship programs of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports aimed at developing qualities of good citizenship and spirit of Volunteerism among youth. It is to provide them an opportunity to work with the people in the villages and slum dwellers. The scheme seeks to achieve its objectives through “Campus to Community” and “College to Village” approaches.
